Mechanically moving toy



H. BILLER Aug. 8, 1939.

MECHANICALLY MOVING TOY Filed Aug. 26, 1938 ATTORNEY UNITED STAT i 31MECHANICALLY MOVING TOY Hans Biller, Nuremberg, Germany, assignor toTransatlantic Factors Inc., New York, N. Y.

Application August 26, 1938, Serial No. 226,893

7 Claims. (01. 46211) My invention relates to mechanically movingBesides these normal wheels of a car a fifth toys, particularly to suchtoys which are prowheel 9 is provided the position of which detervidedwith driving means of any kind for inmines the course which the carfollows. This stance, with a clockwork and are intended to folwheel isadapted to take an upper position and a a; cries.

low certain predetermined paths when moving. lower position. In theupper position it is out 5 The invention is applicable to all kinds ofsuch of contact with the ground and the car rests on toys. The outerform is in no way limited; it its front wheels and is running straightahead. may consist of a vehicle, for instance a car or an In its lowerposition it touches the ground and airplane, an animal, a person, etc.lifts both front wheels from the ground. The

10 One object of my invention is a mechanically course of the car isthen determined by the 10 moving toy which is provided with two or moreposition of this fifth wheel, which I will call a sets of movingelements, each of them giving control wheel in the followingspecification. the toy a certain path of movement and which The controlwheel 9 is rotatably mounted on an is further mounted with control meansby which axle 28 which is in turn supported by a second the various setsof moving elements can be alsupport Iii. This support has a flange-likeex- 15 ternatively put into action, thus enabling a pertension l0 andjournals II by which the support son playing with the toy to direct itin various It is pivotally connected with the stationary supthg. port 8.A coil spring I2 is attached to the second A preferred embodiment of myinvention con support it in such a manner that it always tends siststherein that two control levers are proto turn the second support in thedirection indi- 20 vided which can be alternatively operated. If onecated by the arrow A. However this coil spring control lever is operatedone set of moving elecan be replaced by any other kind of spring mentsare put into action and the other sets or other suitable means. Rigidlyconnected to or which were previously active are released. If being anintegral part of the flange-like exten- 5 the second control lever isoperated another set sion iii of the second support is a control leverof moving elements is actuated and the aforeit!v which is intended topivot downward the supmentioned moving elements are released. port lilwith the control wheel 9 in the direction Other and further objects andadvantages of indicated by the arrow B against the strength theinvention will be hereinafter set forth and of the spring I2.

the novel features thereof defined by the ap- Beside the control leveriii a second control 30 pended claims. lever I4 is provided which ispivotally connected In the accompanying drawing an embodiment with thesupport 8 by means of a pin. A spring oi the invention is shown. l6which is connected by one end with the con- Fig. l is a side view of anautomobile accordtrol lever l4 and the other end with projection ing tothe invention, the parts being partly bro- 2| of the support 8 tends torotate the lever 14 35 ken away. in a direction indicated by arrow C.The up- Fig. 2 shows the same side view as Fig. 1 but ward rotation ofthe lever is limited by a stud the control mechanism is in anotherposition. I! at theside of the support 8. The control Fig. 3 is a planview of an automobile accordlever l4 cooperates with the control lever53 and 40 mg to Fig L the wheel support ill connected to that control 40Fig. 4 hows a front view of an automobile aclever by m s of a projection5 f lever M cording to Fig. l. and a stud l8 being a part of the leverH3 or the l is the base or bottom plate of the chassis of flange-likeextension [0. an automobile on which a clockwork 2 is mount- The playingwith the toy car is effected as foled. This clockwork can be arranged inany conlows. 45 ventional manner and therefore needs no special Firstthe car is wound up in the usual manner description. The body of theautomobile is of and then set on the ground. If the two control noimportance for the invention; it can be of levers l3 and It are in thepositions shown in any kind. 3 is the rear axle on which the rear Fig. lthe edge of the element l5 rests against the wheels 1 and 5 are mounted.The wheel 4 is side of the element l8 thus preventing the con- 50 idleon the axle and the wheel 5 is driven by the trol lever l3 and the wheelsupport it! conclockwork. The front wheels 6 and I of the nected with itfrom following the pull of the car are mounted on an axle l9 which isheld by spring [2 which tends to pivot the wheel support a support 8which may form part of the base downwards. Consequently the wheel 9 isabove 5 plate I. the ground and the direction the car takes is 55determined by the front wheels 6 and 1. To change the direction of thecar it is necessary only to push the control lever l4 downward. Then theelement [5 slides over the upper edge thus releasing the control leverl3, which now turns downward until it comes into the position shown inFig. 2. In this position the wheel 9 is resting on the ground and thewheels 6 and 1 are lifted. Consequently the position of the controlwheel 9 determines the direction of the car. In the embodiment which isillustrated in the drawing the car will now run in circles. If thedirection of the car is to be changed again, the lever I3 is pusheddownward. Consequently the element I5 is removed from the element l8 andthe lever l4 goes back into its upper position by the eifect of thespring l6. In this position the element l5 again rests against the sideof the element l8 thus preventing the lever l3 and the support in fromgoing back into their lower position.

The inventor does not limit himself in this invention to any particularconstruction or form of the toy to which the invention is applied. Forinstance, it is possible to provide another position of the front wheelsand the control wheel as indicated. Further, three or more controllevers can be provided following the same principle as shown in thedescription effecting various paths of the toy vehicle. It is intendedthat all matter contained in the above description or shown in theaccompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimited sense. Having thus described my invention what I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A mechanically moving toy comprising a group of wheels adapted togive the toy a certain path of movement, at least one control wheeladapted to give the toy another path of movement, a support for saidcontrol wheel adapted to be pivoted upward and downward, a spring whichtends to turn the support with the control wheel downward, blockingmeans adapted to block the support in its raised position, a controllever connected with the support and adapted to pivot the support fromits lowered position into its raised blocked position, a second controllever pivotally attached to a stationary part of the toy and adapted torelease the blocking means.

2. A mechanically moving toy comprising a group of wheels determiningthe path of the toy if in action, at least one control wheel, adapted togive the toy a certain path of movement, a support for said controlwheel adapted to be pivoted upward and downward, a spring which tends toturn the support with the control wheel downward, a control leverconnected with said support and adapted to turn the support from itslowered position into its raised position, a projection provided on thesupport, a second lever pivotally attached to a stationary part of thetoy, a projection provided on said second lever and adapted to engagethe projection provided on the support in the raised position of thesupport thus blocking the support in that position and adapted to bereleased by operating the second control lever.

3. A mechanically moving toy comprising a group of wheels adapted togive the toy a certain path of movement, at least one control wheeladapted to give the toy another path of movement, a support for saidcontrol wheel adapted to be pivoted upward and downward, a springtending to turn said support with said control wheel downward, a controllever integral with said support and adapted to turn said support fromits lowered position into its raised position against the strength ofsaid spring, a projection provided on said support, a second leverpivotally secured to a stationary part of the toy, a spring tending toturn said second lever upward, a projection provided on said secondlever and adapted to engage the projection of said support when saidsupport is in its raised position thus blocking said support in thatposition and adapted to be released by operation of said second controllever.

4. A mechanically moving toy comprising a group of wheels adapted togive the toy a certain path of movement, at least one control wheeladapted to give the toy another path of movement, a support for saidcontrol wheel, adapted to be pivoted upward and downward, a springtending to turn said support with said control wheel downward, a controllever integral with said support and adapted to turn said support fromits lowered position into its raised position against the strength ofsaid spring, a projection provided on said support, a second leverpivotally secured to a stationary part of the toy, a spring tending toturn the second lever upward, a projection provided on said second leverand adapted to abut against the projection of said support in the raisedposition of said support thus blocking said support in that position andadapted to slide under said projection if said second control lever isoperated thus releasing said support.

5. A mechanically moving toy comprising a group of wheels adapted togive the toy a certain path of movement, at least one control wheeladapted to give the toy another path of movement, a support for saidcontrol wheel, said support adapted to be pivoted upward and downward, aspring tending to turn said support with said control wheel downward, acontrol lever integral with said support and adapted to turn saidsupport from its lowered position into its raised position against thestrength of said spring, a projection provided on said support, a secondlever pivotally secured to a stationary part of the toy, a springconnected with one end with the control lever and with the other endwith a stationary part of the toy and tending to turn said second leverupward, said spring adapted to abut against the projection of saidsupport in the raised position of said support thus blocking saidsupport in that position and adapted to slide under said projection ifsaid second control lever is operated thus releasing said support.

6. A toy vehicle comprising an automobile body, a chassis, two frontwheels, two rear wheels, said wheels adapted to give the toy a certainpath of movement, at least one control wheel intermediate between thefront and rear wheels, said control wheel adapted to give the toyanother path of movement if in action, a support for said control wheeladapted to be pivoted upward and downward, a spring tending to turn saidsupport with said control wheel downward, blocking means adapted toblock said support in its raised position, a control lever connectedwith said support and adapted to pivot said support from its loweredposition into its raised blocked position, a second control leverpivotally attached to a stationary part of the toy and adapted torelease said blocking means.

'7. A toy vehicle comprising an automobile body, a chassis, two frontwheels, two rear wheels, said wheels determining a certain path ofmovement of the toy vehicle, at least one control wheel adapted to givethe toy another path of movement if, in action, a support for saidcontrol wheel adapted to be pivoted upward and downward, a springtending to turn said support with said control wheel downward, a controllever connected with said support and adapted to turn said support fromits lowered position into its raised position, a projection provided onsaid support, a second lever pivotally attached to a stationary part ofthe toy, a spring tending to turn said second lever upward, a projectionprovided on said second lever and adapted to engage the projection ofsaid support in the raised position of said support thus blocking thesupport in that position and adapted to be released by operation of saidsecond control lever.

HANS BILLER.

